Sign wall bracket



8 1970 B. G. CHRIETZBERG ET AL 3,525,493

SIGN WALL BRACKET Filed June 28, 1968 g 1 1| M j j H MAUI.-

25 Fig.1.

INVENTORS. Bill 6. Criefzber'g Frank V. Newell United States Patent Ofice 3,525,493; Patented Aug. 25, 1970 3,525,493 SIGN WALL BRACKET Bill G. Chrietzberg, Raytown, and Frank V. Newell,

Kansas City, Mo., assignors to Best Stamp & Manufacturing Company, Kansas City, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed June 28, 1968, Ser. No. 741,042 Int. Cl. G09f 7/18 U.S. Cl. 248224 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sign wall bracket having a base for attachment to a supporting surface, the base having a mounting face, there being a pair of spaced apart feet projecting outwardly from the mounting face to define a recessed area therebetween, there being a channel formed substantially centrally of the recessed area to present a pair of side edges, the side edges being movable apart by applying a force against the base to move the feet into engagement with the supporting surface and to move the recessed area toward the supporting surface, the mounting means being initially movable along the channel between the side edges and, upon release of the force, clampingly engaged by the side edges whereby to retain the bracket. Carried by the base, oppositely outwardly from the mounting face, is a neck which neck carries a pair of jaws, the jaws defining a slot presenting a pair of opposed inside walls, the inside walls being provided with recessed seats, there being a sleeve of flexible material inserted within the slot, the sleeve having a plurality of beads thereon whereby to retain the sleeve in frictional engagement with a marginal edge of a sign, certain areas of the outer surface of the sleeve being received within the recessed seats of the slot by virtue of compressive force exerted by the jaws when the sleeve and sign are inserted into the slot.

This invention relates generally to a device for supporting wall signs and more specifically to a bracket for supporting and securing such signs to a vertical surface so as to allow the sign to project normally outward from said surface.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a sign wall bracket wherein the sign is secured to the bracket by means of frictional engagement of a marginal edge of the sign with a sleeve of flexible material carried by a pair of receiving jaws extending outwardly from the base of said bracket.

Another important object of the present invention is the provision of structure for concealing the means for attaching the bracket to a wall by providing certain recessed areas on the wall mounting side of the base of the bracket; one area being of a channel configuration to receive and retain the heads of mounting screws inserted in the wall, the remaining recessed space including an area large enough to permit depressing of the bracket toward the wall, whereby the bracket and sign are held in secured position through a tension eifect imparted by a flexing of the bracket base in combination with retention of the engaged screws.

Other objects will become apparent from the following specification and the accompanying drawings; wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view partially in section, showing the sign wall bracket in place and carrying a sign;

FIG. 2 is an exploded, fragmentary top plan view showing the bracket, flexible sleeve, and sign; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view partially in section, showing the bracket, flexible sleeve, and sign mounted in place.

The sign wall bracket, indicated by the numeral 10 includes, as its major components, a generally T-shaped base 12, a neck 14 extending outwardly from one surface of said base 1-2 and a pair of jaws '16 carried by said neck 14 and defining therebetween a sign receiving slot 18-.

The neck 14 and jaws 16 are on one face of bracket '10, this being face 20 which is normally the outer visible face of the bracket, the face 22 opposite to said face 20 being the mounting face of the bracket 10.

The face 22 of base 12 includes a pair of spaced apart longitudinally extending feet 24 which project outwardly from said face 22 whereby to define a centrally disposed inwardly recessed area 26 therebetween, said area being in a plane substantially parallel to and spaced inwardly from that of the feet 24. It is the purpose of feet 24 to keep the surface of recessed area 26 from becoming flush with the surface 28 of a supporting wall such as 30, thereby permitting a certain degree of flexibility in the base 10 when the same is mounted as will be hereinafter described.

A channel 32 is formed substantially centrally of recessed area 26 and extends, in parallel relation with feet 24 throughout the full length of face 22 of base '10. For purposes of illustration the transverse cross sectional configuration of the channel 32 is shown as being that of an open ended triangle which will accept the-rewithin the head 34 of a screw 36 which is carried by the supporting wall 30.

'It will be noted that [channel 32 is open at both ends thereof whereby the head 34 of screw 36 may be moved into said channel 32 through one of the open ends thereof. It will be appreciated that any number of mounting screws such as 36 may be used in securing bracket 10 to wall 30, two of such screws being shown for purposes of illustration in the drawing. It will also be noted that screws 36 are clampingly engaged by side edges 38 of the channel 32. This clamping engagement is achieved when the sign is mounted by first placing screws 36 in wall 30 at the desired location and in aligned spaced relation as shown in FIG. 1 and then positioning the bracket 10 either above or below the aligned screws whereby the heads of the screws can be slid into the channel 32 by moving the bracket toward the screws. As the bracket is so moved a force is applied to bracket 10 urging the same toward the wall 30, as by pressing inwardly on the bracket, this force causing a flexing of the base 10 and more particularly movement of the recessed area 26 toward surface 28 of wall 30 thereby further causing the edges 38 of the channel 32 to move apart as the screw heads are moved into the channel. Once this force is released the developed tension in legs 24 will urge the bracket '10 away from wall 30 and also cause recessed area 26 to move away from surface 28, thereby moving edges 38 into clamping engagement with the screw 36, all as best shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing. Thus, through the provision of the specific base assembly and mounting means hereinabove described the bracket 10 is securely aflixed to the wall 30 and the mounting means are concealed in such a manner as to maintain an aesthetically pleasing appearance for the wall mounted sign bracket.

The sign 40 may be attached to the bracket 10 either prior to mounting the same upon a wall or subsequent thereto. Sign 40 is in the nature of a fiat sheet of material, the particular one chosen for illustration being rectangular in configuration whereby to present a marginal edge such as 42 which is fiat on both faces thereof.

In order to accommodate sign 40 to bracket 10 a sleeve 44 of flexible material, such as plastic or the like, is provided. Sleeve 44 is U-shaped in transverse cross section whereby to present a bight 46 and a pair of oppositely disposed legs 48, the sleeve 44 having an outer surface 50 and an inner surface 52.

The inner surface -2 of each of the legs 48 has a plurality of longitudinally extending spaced apart parallel beads 5-4 formed thereon, which beads are in frictional engagement with the marginal edge 42 of the sign 40 when the latter is embraced by sleeve 44, as by pushing sleeve 44 onto marginal edge 42 whereby to firmly seat the sign within the sleeve.

The slot 18 defined by jaws 16 presents a pair of opposed inside walls 56 which correspond to legs 48 of sleeve 44, the bottom wall 58 of slot 18 corresponding to bight 46 of sleeve 44. Each of inside walls 56 has formed, throughout the length thereof, a series of recessed seats 60, said seats being in the form of outwardly inclined V-shaped notches, all as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawing, each of the seats therefore presenting a leading edge 62 which is directed toward the bottom wall 58 of the slot 18.

Thus, when sleeve 44 is placed into embracing relationship with marginal edge 42 of sign 40, whereby to cause the beads 54 to frictionally engage the sign and the sleeve and the sign subsequently inserted into slot 18, the jaws 16 will exert a compressive force on the flexible sleeve 44 thereby causing portions on the outer surface 50 thereof to be seated within seats 60 on the inside walls of slot I18. Thus, due to the particular configuration of the seats 60 and the flexibility of the material from which sleeve 44 is formed a tight, retentive engagement between tthe jaws and the sleeve 44, and therefore the sign 40 is created whereby sign 40 is securely held in a position substantially perpendicular to the supporting wall 30. The sign wall bracket may be fabricated from a metal material in order to have the characteristics hereinabove described but might also be fabricated from a suit able plastic material, so long as such material was capable of achieving the desired results as described herein.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A sign wall bracket comprising:

a base for attachment to a supporting surface, said base having a mounting face positionable proximal to said supporting surface;

a pair of spaced apart feet projecting outwardly from said mounting face whereby to define a recessed area therebetween, said recessed area normally being spaced from said supporting surface;

a channel formed substantially centrally of said recessed area and substantially parallel to said feet, said channel presenting a pair of opposed side edges,

4 said side edges being movable apart by applying a force against said base to move said feet into engagement with said supporting surface and to move said recessed area toward said supporting surface; and means receivable within said channel for attaching said base to said supporting surface, said means being initially movable along said channel between said side edges and, upon release of said force, clampingly engaged by said side edges. 2. The invention as set forth in claim 1, there being a neck extending outwardly from said base oppositely from said mounting face; a pair of jaws on said neck;

and a sleeve of flexible material carried within said jaws, said sleeve being in frictional engagement with a marginal edge of a sign received therein, whereby to retain said sign with respect to said bracket.

3. A signal wall bracket comprising:

a base for attachment to a supporting surface;

a neck extending outwardly from one face of the base;

a pair of jaws on said neck, said jaws defining a slot,

t said slot presenting a pair of opposed, inside walls,

said walls each being provided with a series of recessed seats;

a sleeve of flexible material inserted within said slot, said sleeve being in frictional engagement with a marginal edge of a sign, said sleeve consisting of a transversely U-shaped member having an inner surface and an outer surface, there being a plurality of longitudinally extending beads formed on portions of said inner surface for engaging said marginal edge of the sign, certain areas of said outer surface being received within said recessed seats by virtue of compressive force exerted by said jaws when said sleeve and sign are inserted into said slot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ROY D. FRAZ'IER, Primary Examiner J. -F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 1 1, 

